I am writing this column 30 days after my donor stem cell transplant.

The road to this point has been far from easy.  Nor do I believe that I am anywhere near “out of the woods” as far as recovery.

However, I am feeling pretty good about where I am at right now and about my decision to go forward with the transplant.

First, a little background:

I have written about this in some of my previous posts.  Since being diagnosed about 6.5 years ago, I have undergone just about every treatment …

Pssst…wanna buy some stem cells?

It seems there’s nothing to stop you now, you know.

It used to be that compensating individuals for donating peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) was a crime, a felony actually.  Up to five years in a federal prison.  For anyone involved in a PBSC donation for which compensation or some type of payment had been made.  This included the recipient of the “illegally” gotten stem cells.

There’s been a battle raging for many years over the inclusion of PBSCs under the terms of the National Organ Transplant …

Results of a recent, small German study show that donor stem cell trans­plan­tation followed by Revlimid maintenance therapy may be feasible in heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients.

“For younger and fit patients, [donor] stem cell transplantation followed by maintenance therapy with [Revlimid] is a reasonable treatment option for patients who have already relapsed [after an autologous stem cell transplant],” said Dr. Nicolaus Kröger of the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany and lead investigator of the study.

Dr. Philip McCarthy of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, …

“Mini” donor stem cell transplantation using stem cells from an unrelated donor may be feasible in multiple myeloma patients, according to the results of a recent small French study.

Results of the study showed that the estimated two-year overall and progression-free survival rates were similar between myeloma patients who received stem cells from a related donor and patients who received stem cells from an unrelated donor.

Based on these findings, the French researchers suggest that myeloma patients may benefit from a “mini” donor stem cell transplant in the absence of a suitable …

Results of a recent retrospective analysis suggest that donor lymphocyte infusions appear to work better when they are used in patients who have residual multiple myeloma than in those who have relapsed after a donor stem cell transplant.

Donor lymphocyte infusions are considered a preemptive treatment when used in transplant patients with residual disease, and a salvage treatment when used in transplant patients who have relapsed.

“The relapse rate is high with allogeneic (donor) stem cell transplants. Donor lymphocyte infusions can improve outcomes if utilized for residual disease,” said Dr. Amer Beitinjaneh, …

Results from a number of multiple myeloma studies were presented yesterday during the second day of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 annual meeting in San Diego.

Predicting Response To Immunomodulatory Drugs

During an oral presentation and a poster presentation yesterday, researchers discussed the role of the protein cereblon in the treatment of myeloma.  Results from one study (abstract) in myeloma cell lines suggested that cereblon plays a key role in whether multiple myeloma patients respond to the immunomodulatory drugs Revlimid (lenalidomide) and pomalidomide.  Another study (abstract) …

Yesterday was the first day of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) 2011 annual meeting, which is being held in San Diego.

Although the day featured no oral pre­sen­ta­tions of new myeloma-related re­search, it started with an in­ter­est­ing educational session focused on mul­ti­ple myeloma.

There also were a num­ber of poster pre­sen­ta­tions during the day summarizing im­por­tant new re­search findings.

The educational session in the morn­ing featured three pre­sen­ta­tions by lead­ing myeloma spe­cialists.

Induction Therapy And Maintenance Treatment

The first pre­sen­ta­tion was by Dr. Donna Reece of the Princess Margaret Hospital in …